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Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. "Jess and Jason," she calls them. Their life-as she sees it-is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

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One of my co-workers who recommended this book compared it to <em>Gone Girl</em>. I see why. Just like in Gillian Flynn's books, there's not a likable character to be had. I started off annoyed by the unreliable narrator I perceived Rachel to be. I figured she's bitter, lonely, nosy, and wants to insert herself into the lives of people she views from her train seat. She's like a drunk, British Mrs. Kravitz.

What's worse, she wants to believe she's not the horrible person, she clearly is. Her excuses are pathetic, especially because she's trying so hard to deny that she's a miserable divorcee who's abuse while under the influence literally drove her husband away. Problem is, she won't go away.

Then she catches the woman who's life she envies kissing another man. A day later, the woman goes missing. By all appearances, Rachel seems obsessed, but she knows she could help solve the disappearance of Megan if she could just remember what happened when she was black-out drunk. Unless, she did something to Megan herself???

As the book goes on we learn that there are many, many, motives and many, many, suspects. Megan had been babysitting for Rachel's ex-husband and wife--they live a few doors down. Then through Megan's POV, we learn that she's got a major problem with fidelity. She won't face her problems, she just tries to sex them away. Megan's husband is a jealous, suspicious man, with a history of heaping emotional abuse on her and snooping through her emails. How do we know this? Her shrink tells the cops. But unfortunately, the shrink is the man Rachel saw Megan kissing on the train. Then there's Anna, Rachel's ex-husband's new wife. She's a homewrecker herself.

I was blown away by this psychological thriller, a debut psychological thriller at that! I was fascinated by the idea of this woman secretly spying on residents everyday as she rides the 8:04 train. People watching is fun, I enjoy doing it when I’m forced to be social, but the situation this woman involves herself in is far more complicated, and personal, than she expected. (And something I’m not motivated enough to involve myself with- bye Felicia.)

Coming out of a rough divorce, Rachel finds herself at an all time low. She drinks to dull her emotional pain, she rides the train into town without a sense or purpose, and now she finds herself meddling in other’s peoples affairs- literally. As a former resident of Blenheim Road, she’s always watching as she passes by... Until one day, she sees something, within the blink of an eye, that kick starts an investigation she’s stuck in the middle of.

Rachel begins her own personal investigation after the police have made it quite clear they won’t be listening to an unstable drunk. The case had me jumping to conclusions after each chapter. I wanted answers and wanted them now. I was desperate to read faster, to unlock another clue that would lead me in the right direction of solving the mystery.

Hawkins wrote chapters from alternating points of view, revealing pertinent bits of information at the right moment. The minute I had an inkling on who the perpetrator could have been, something new was thrown into the equation and I’d be back to square one. Mad props on your trickster ways and skills, Paula.

One of my favorite things about reading this genre is trying to figure out/solve the mystery before it’s revealed. (Movies, too!) It’s a trait I inherited from my dad. Books I can’t figure out/solve are always enjoyable; whether I’m reading and frantically turning pages as if they’re more important than air, or taking my time to absorb the details and take notes, they engulf me. Sleep is for the weak, I need answers.

The Girl on the Train was a nail biter and I was hooked on the story the entire time. I look forward to future works by this author!

I had added "Girl On a Train" to my summer reading list, and was anxious to start it. It was high on my list - right after Orphan Train and All the Light We Cannot See. I had no preconceived ideas about it and did not know the story line. Given the number of great reviews, I was pretty shocked when I was halfway through it and simply not engaged. I could have put it down and not returned to it. I get the theme of "these-characters-aren't-who-you-think-they-are", but how many chapters of the main character's obsessive screw ups, alcoholism, mental instability, and self-loathing do we need to witness before thinking the author doubts our comprehension and needs to repeat it for us?For awhile, the most interesting part for me was the momentary supposition that Megan and Rachel were the same person due to MPD - at the same time knowing the impossibility of that considering the cross-over of people in both their lives. By the time the author fleshed out Meghan's background issues - I just didn't care. It had taken too long and I just didn't care to pick up the [new] baggage of Meghan's self-loathing after spending half the book watching Rachel embrace her pathetic-ness.I don't know if one would consider it a "disclaimer" but I have a degree in Criminology, so I may be more pragmatic in my attitude. I read a lot of mystery/thrillers and feel I am easily engaged and don't tend to over criticize.With that said, (and trying to avoid spoilers) - I thought the perpetrator was obvious early on, based on actions and history......not conversation and pretenses. And come on - the "nanny scenario??" Seriously"Normally, in a thriller or mystery I really like - the characters are woven with a complexity that involves me. Later on, it should be a surprise regarding who they really are. Quite simply - I didn't want to know any of these people.